Ted Grant

British Labour Betrayed Greek Workers

Churchill's speech on Greece
was a clear indication of the fears and of the aims of the British ruling
class: it was a declaration of war against Socialism and the Socialist
Revolution in Europe.

"For three or four days, or more, it was a struggle to
prevent a hideous massacre in the centre of Athens, in which all forms of government
would have been swept away and naked triumphant Trotskyism installed."

"I think ‘Trotskyists' is a better definition of the Greek
Communists and of certain other sects than the normal word, and it has the
advantage of being equally hated in Russia. (Laughter and cheers)."

Thus Churchill openly signifies whom he regards as the
enemy: the Socialist Revolution, which he correctly characterises as
"Trotskyism". The despicable lies and slanders of Stalinism are
brushed aside by this arch-enemy of Socialism and the working class. In giving
an account of his stewardship, Churchill has attempted to justify his policy of
brute force by showing the dangers to his class that existed in the situation
in Greece.
Of course he did not say that the general strike and uprising of the
overwhelming majority of the workers and large sections of the middle class in Athens, was provoked by
the police firing on unarmed men, women and children. Nor does he say that the
Greek workers had many bitter memories of the fascist police who were used as a
tool of repression by fascist dictator Metaxas and then sold their services to
Hitler.

Against "Trotskyism", against the Socialist
Revolution, against any attempt of the workers to take control of society into
their hands in any country, Churchill and the ruling class will use any means,
including the devil and the Nazi gang itself.

Not for nothing did Churchill, in his first speech on Greece, justify
his support of Mussolini against the danger of Bolshevism. Today the ruling
class pursues the same struggle [against] Bolshevism under the name of
Trotskyism, i.e. genuine revolutionary Communism.

Who are these
so-called workers' leaders?

Not satisfied with the murder and terror organised under
their aegis against the Athens
workers and trade unionists, the British Ambassador - probably under the
instructions of the British authorities - has arranged the repulsive farce of a
delegation of so-called "Greek Trade Unionists" to thank him for saving them
from Communist tyranny! Unhappily, so
clumsy and careless have the British imperialists been, that among these
so-called "Trade Union leaders" is a prominent Quisling named Krokos, who was
associated with the Labour Front organised by Metaxas when he illegalised the
trade unions, and continued undisturbed under Hitler. The others are of the
same ilk, having no connection with the Greek trade unions - the General
Confederation of Labour.

And these
imperialist gangsters, cynically trampling on the organisations of the workers,
try to palm off these fascists on the British workers as "representatives"
of the Greek working class:

Not satisfied with having crushed the general strike and
the armed resistance of the workers of Attica,
[thus] protecting the fascists from the just wrath of the workers, General
Scobie must needs flaunt his puppets in the face of the Greek workers and
peasants. The demonstration in Athens
which acclaimed Scobie and Churchill, was addressed by Scobie as "Greek
Workers". Queer, workers carrying portraits of King George and acclaiming
General Zervas, organiser of the Royalist fascist thugs - and shouting "no
amnesty"! In reality it was a demonstration of counter-revolution - not of
the workers, but of the same people who supported the Quisling government in Greece, demonstrating
in favour of anyone who would protect them from the workers. Whether it is
Hitler or Churchill, it is all the same to them. Their one desire was to
revenge themselves on the defeated workers - defeated not by them, but by
British tanks, planes and guns.

Plastiras - the
interventionist

Plastiras, Churchill's choice of a "democrat",
is leading the capitalist pack against EAM. An apt choice for Churchill.
Plastiras led a Greek army in the anti-Bolshevik crusade launched by Churchill
in 1919. He learned his "democracy", and how to treat the workers as
a General, in Wrangel's White Guard Army, which fought against the Red Army and
hanged [and] tortured tens of thousands of Russian workers and peasants. A
symbolic coincidence! Churchill and Plastiras remain true to themselves. They
pursue the same aim now as they did then: the stamping out of Socialism and
workers' power in any part of Europe where
they may take control.

Plastiras at
first stood out for the policy of exterminating ELAS. And why not? The British
troops with their military superiority were bound to win in the end and the
Greek capitalists could step in and crush the betrayed workers and peasants.

Churchill was undoubtedly originally supporting this
scheme. His first speeches on the Greek question after the fighting broke out
indicated these intentions. But when it became clear that ELAS had the support
of the overwhelming majority of the workers and peasants - and that to destroy
it would require a long campaign, Churchill thought it necessary to use other
means to achieve his ends. A long campaign which might require 10 to 20
divisions - the Nazis had that and couldn't hold down the Greek people -
threatened too many complications nationally and internationally. The disgust
of the British workers and soldiers, he feared, would inevitably result in some
sort of action against British policy in Greece.

Through the puppet Plastiras, Churchill has already forced
EAM to conclude a truce. For the time being, he has dropped the demand for
complete disarmament and has allowed ELAS to retain control of the greater part
of Greece
- but the non-industrial parts. The ports and big towns will be under
the control of the puppet government and the armed forces of British
imperialism.

The British imperialists thus have the whip hand in Greece and can
now organise the forces of counter-revolution - the so-called Greek army -
without hindrance, in the strategic and economically important area which they
have occupied.

Betrayal of British Labour leaders

Under these circumstances, the base betrayal of the Greek
workers by the leaders of the British Labour Party and Communist Party is
absolutely flagrant. They have lied to the workers as to the real aims and
intentions of Churchill and the ruling class in the war. They have confused the
workers by talk of so-called "misinformation" and
"confusion" of Churchill by the British ambassador and the military
representatives in Greece.
Disgraceful blathering! Churchill understood the position perhaps better than
they did. And as a ruthless representative of his class, he obviously arranged
for the "information" which he desired to be sent to Britain,
just as he invented a non-existent insurrection in Belgium when it suited his policy
of repression with the aid of British troops there.

He prepared for his campaign of force and repression by
systematic dissemination of lies, slander and misrepresentation. Aneurin Bevan
quotes these instructions in the debate in Parliament:

"The Prime Minister has ruled that, in principle, no
credit of any kind is to be given to ELAS or EAM on the BBC. In every case
where it is thought desirable to make exceptions, his personal approval should
first be obtained..."

And these instructions were given to all Services
connected with Greek affairs by the Political Warfare Executive on August 1
1944, i.e. months before the conflict broke out!

As members of the Cabinet, the Labour leaders must have
known what was taking place yet they remained silent and did not denounce the
conspiracy that was obviously being prepared against the Greek workers. Thus
they participated as partners in British capitalism's counter-revolutionary
plots against the European peoples. And the Stalinist, so-called
"Communist" Party, traitors still continue to support the Churchill
Government! Not to speak of Aneurin Bevan and other Labour Lefts who had not
the courage to vote against the Government after revealing its intentions!

Thus, while Churchill and the ruling class have been
preparing systematically to crush the workers in Europe
with cold class calculations, the Labour and Stalinist leaders have been
telling the workers fairy tales about "national unity" and the
"interests of the nation". Churchill and the Tories have pursued a
consistent class policy in the interests of British capitalism, while the
Labour and Stalinist leaders have allowed the workers to be taken by surprise
by events.

Hypocritically the "Communist" Party urge
"protests" to the government that will and must remain so much hot
air. They oppose and sabotage any suggestion of action to clip Churchill's
claws. They appeal to Beelzebub against Satan - "Please Churchill should not
carry out the policy of Churchill!" All their "protests" are intended
to check the uneasiness of the sincere and honest rank and file members of the
Communist Party.

When Will Lawther, under the influence of the opposition
of the British workers, proposed that the Labour Ministers leave the Government
and that the Labour movement organise Councils of Action if British
intervention in Greece continued, instead of using this as a basis for a
campaign throughout the trade unions and working class, the
"Communist" Party remained silent on this question. The Daily Worker which published all the
verbal protests of Labour and even Liberal spokesmen which were so much hot
air, carefully censored Lawther's speech and did not even print his proposals
in the Daily Worker.

In Greece itself,
the role of Stalinism has been the same. While the Greek ruling class was
preparing to crush the working class, they tried to fool the workers with the
same myth of "national unity". Before the general strike and
insurrection, provoked by the actions of the Greek puppet Government, they did
their best to capitulate to the reaction. EAM representatives in the Cabinet even
accepted the proposal for disarmament of their forces, while the fascist
Royalist Mountain Brigade and the Security Battalions were to remain unarmed.
It was only the indignation and pressure of the masses - who refused to place
themselves at the mercy of their bitter enemies - which compelled them to
withdraw from the agreement.

It was the class instinct of the workers, who had learned
in the bitter days of struggle against the Nazis, the lesson taught by Marx and
Lenin that arms represent power, which made them resolve not to surrender their
arms. They had been mainly responsible for liberating Greece from
Nazi domination and they were determined not to allow the capitalists, who had
set up the Metaxas dictatorship and collaborated with the Quislings, to retain
control and prepare the way for a new dictatorship.

Stalin remains silent because he considers Warsaw well worth Athens.
In return for the frontier in Poland and a Government amenable to Stalin's
foreign policy - while capitalism remains there, and a sphere of influence in
the Balkans - Churchill gets a free hand in Greece. A cynical horse-deal behind
the scenes has been arranged. Moreover, as Churchill well understands, Stalin
is terrified of a revolutionary Balkans and complications throughout Europe. That is why he can jeer and pour well-deserved
contempt on the Stalinist buffoon Willie Gallacher even when the latter makes a
damaging point. Churchill sneeringly said:

"Evidently the chance remark which I made the other
day to the hon. member has stung him deeply. (Laughter).

The chance remark was:

"Mr. Gallacher (Com., W. Fife).

Will
the statement to be made on Greece
be a better balanced and more reliable one than the one we had from him before
the recess?

Mr. Churchill. - "Mr. Gallacher must not get too excited
about these matters, or he will fall into danger of Trotskyite deviation to the
left." (Laughter.)

"I shall continue to probe carefully the exact political
shade which he adopts..."

Churchill knows the role of Gallacher and the C.P.- he knows
that Gallagher is but an agent of Stalin and Churchill is kicking him jeeringly
into line. Even fake opposition, which is intended as " a harmless safety
valve for the Communist workers" is resented!

Greek workers were struggling for
power

But for the
workers of the world the tragedy in Greece and its implications still
remains! Churchill brushes aside criticism of the too voluble and indiscreet
Plastiras, who openly threatens bloody reprisals against the Greek masses, with
the cynical comment that the very existence of his government is dependent on
British arms and the British Government is not in favour of this.

The fact stands out that within a few days of the
revolution - for that was what the instinctive movement of the Greek masses
meant - the workers and peasants armed and organised in ELAS - EAM were in
control of the whole of Greece
including the major part of Athens.
In Salonika and other cities the workers had
established control over housing, factories, rationing, etc. Lenin never tired
of emphasising that power, that the State, can be reduced to "armed bodies
of men"; that what determines which class has the Power, is which class
controls the armed bodies of men. Churchill and the other representatives of
capitalism understand this perfectly and that is why (despite the docile
leadership of the Socialist and Stalinist leadership in the Resistance
Movement), because of the potentialities of an armed working class, they are so
insistent on the disarming of the workers and peasants and are demanding the
creation of "national" armies; i.e. armies where the officers and
other cadres have been selected by the capitalists and are completely under
capitalist control.

Thus the position in Greece was that the control of the
situation was in the hands of the working class! It was a situation similar to
that of the Paris Commune and, Spain
in 1936, except that the leadership was more cowardly, ignorant and
treacherous.

Power
was in the grasp of the heroic Greek workers and peasants!

All that was necessary was that they should expropriate
the property of the capitalists, confiscate the land of the landlords for the
peasants, and organise a workers' state with a workers' Government!

That the workers wanted to finish with capitalism once and
for all [was] indicated by a report of their mood published in the Daily Telegraph of 31st January 1945:

"In those tense Athenian weeks before the Greek
Communist Party's rebellion broke out, the whole city was painted over with KKE
slogans, among them "VENGEANCE!" "DEATH TO THE TRAITORS!"
and "DEATH TO THE BOURGEOIS".

Throughout the conflict the main pre-occupation of the
leadership has been to try and capitulate on terms which would not expose them
completely in the eyes of the rank and file! Thus when Churchill (as the
representative of British Imperialism) - who was primarily responsible for the
bitter war of intervention in Greece
- flew to Athens,
they publicly fawned on and praised him despite the fact that the butchery of
the Greek workers was planned by him well in advance.

They appealed for a compromise: Damaskinos as Regent! And
Damaskinos became Regent and promptly denounced EAM in stringent terms! They
asked for elections, a request which was refused - until the workers have been
thoroughly tamed and broken and a majority for reaction -
"republican" if the masses still refuse to "wear" the King -
can be ensured.

As an
inevitable result of this policy of compromise and capitulation to the
capitalist class at a critical stage in the struggle, big sections of the reformists
and Liberals, especially the latter, have openly gone over to the side of the
reaction. Now conversations are going on for the EAM leaders once again to
participate in the capitalist Government. It is most likely that some
face-saving sell-out agreement will be reached. Despite the heroism of the
Greek workers and peasants, they will be crushed and betrayed into the hands of
the capitalists.

Yet victory was within their grasp. The British troops in Greece do not
like the dirty job of repressing the Greek people. A wave of horror and
revulsion has passed through the ranks of the British working class. But the
shouts for "democracy" by both sides resulted in confusion as to what
was taking place. A clear class call for internationalism, for workers' solidarity,
would have echoed and re-echoed throughout the ranks of the British workers in
overalls and uniform. Gallacher appropriately reminded Churchill this is not
the first time he has organised a war of intervention against the working
class. But this renegade failed to point out [that] Churchill's intervention
against the Soviet Union collapsed only
because of the revolutionary Internationalist policy of Lenin and Trotsky! In
the war of intervention against the Soviet Union,
not a single capitalist army could be persuaded to continue fighting against
the Russian workers. Churchill's lies and slanders were useless against this
weapon of the Bolsheviks - revolutionary internationalism. His tanks, planes
and guns were of no use to him. The American army mutinied, the French, the
German and others; the British Army demanded that they be sent home. This was
only because the Bolsheviks, the "Trotskyists" as Churchill would
call them today, carried through the Socialist revolution and made a class
appeal to the workers and soldiers of the world. A class appeal ceaselessly
propagated by the Greek workers and peasants would have had the same result.

The
Greek workers and peasants will not forget the lessons burned in their
consciousness under fire if the Trotskyists in Greece, (and our Party though
small, played a role in these events) have been explaining the role of
reformism and Stalinism in what has taken place. A temporary lull may ensue in
the class struggle, only to break out with greater intensity in the next
period. The martyred Greek workers will learn the lessons! They will not
forget.

But Greece is not
the end, it is only the beginning. Churchill is already preparing to deal with
the revolutionary workers in the North of Italy. The ruling class is preparing
to strike against the German workers as soon as Hitler falls. They are
preparing to try and crush the revolution throughout Europe
in the next period. And even now Churchill and the ruling class are preparing
to settle accounts with the British workers too!

The
advanced workers of Greece
and of the world must understand the lessons of this conflict. Agreements and
coalitions with the capitalists can only lead to disaster and defeat. No
support to any section of the capitalist class can serve the interests of the
workers. Class collaboration means capitulation to capitalism. Reformism and
Stalinism can only lead to victory in the class struggle for the capitalists.
Only a Party carrying through the policy of Revolutionary Communism can lead
the working class to Power!

Build the Fourth International which alone unites the
workers of all lands under the banner: "Workers of the world, unite!"